Are you ready for a potential tsunami? Learn how you can get prepared.

Tsunami and earthquake experts visited two sites in Grays Harbor County Wednesday to help residents learn how they can be prepared for a potential disaster.

The event held at noon at the Ocosta Junior High was packed. It included participation in a drill at the school's recently built vertical evacuation structure, which is part of a school building. That structure, built to survive a magnitude 9 earthquake, is also built to survive a tsunami with students and residents. It's believed to be the only vertical evacuation structure built so far in North America, but others are in the planning stages.

The presentation is part of a six-stop tsunami road show on the Washington coast and Olympic Peninsula. It will feature officials from Washington Emergency Management, the Washington Geological Survey, the National Weather Service, the University of Washington/Sea Grant and Grays Harbor County Emergency Management.

Washington coastal areas are particularly at risk from seismic activity in the Cascadia Subduction Zone. A study published in March found a 9.0 magnitude earthquake off the coast of Grays Harbor County could cause a 60-foot tsunami to inundate parts of Southwestern Washington.

Officials expected high interest in the event following the powerful earthquake off the coast of Alaska in January that triggered a tsunami watch in Washington.

“Given how events unfolded, we think it's even more imperative to help people understand the advantages of having a NOAA Weather Alert Radio, the difference in tsunami alert levels, near source vs distance source tsunamis and when the tsunami sirens will be activated,” Keily Yemm, tsunami program coordinator for the Washington Emergency Management Division, said in a statement.

The ASEAN region is one of the most disaster-prone regions in the world, and extreme climate events are projected to increase in frequency and intensity due to climate variation and change.
We have seen the impacts that proper preparation and resilience -building efforts can have in the face of disaster events. The APEC Climate Center believes that science and policy, when merged and effectively utilized together, can truly enhance disaster risk reduction and disaster management. Through the ASDMP project, funded by the Republic of Korea government, the APEC Climate Center has worked closely with the AHA Centre, ASEAN Secretariat, and the ASEAN Committee on Disaster Management to enhance DRR and DRM in the region.

This research roadmap provides a guideline on a potential process that will help achieve the ASEAN region’s goal of becoming a global leader on disaster management by 2025. The ASDMP project team has travelled the ASEAN region to ensure the reflection of local knowledge in this roadmap, and surveys have been distributed widely in an attempt to fully understand the status of DRR and DRM in the region.

This roadmap has identified key research and initiatives that need to take place in the short and long term on both the country and regional level, in order to greatly enhance resilience to disasters in the ASEAN region.

APCC would like to thank the Republic of Korea government, AHA Centre, ASEAN Secretariat, the ASEAN Committee on Disaster Management, and the respective governments of the ASEAN Member States for their active participation and support throughout the project duration.

Dr. Hong-Sang Jung Executive Director APEC Climate Center

Message from the ACDM Chair

The ASEAN region sits between several tectonic plates, which cause many extreme climate events such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and tsunamis. Also being between the Pacific and Indian oceans causes seasonal typhoons. The ASEAN region is prone to almost all types of natural disasters including typhoons, floods, earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, landslides, forest fires, epidemics, and droughts. These extreme climate events often transcend the boundaries of individual nations, and that is why we must work together across boundaries to limit the potential damages of these events.

Therefore, the ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community Blueprint 2025 stipulates on the paragraph D.1. that: A Disaster Resilient ASEAN that is able to Anticipate, Respond, Cope, Adapt, and Build Back Better,
Smater, and Faster.

I still remember my participation in the Kickoff Workshop for the ASEAN Science-Based Disaster Management Platform Project (ASDMP), which was taking place between 30th-31st March 2016 in Busan, Korea.

One of the above-mentioned workshop’s objectives is to Increase APCC’s network in the ASEAN region to increase the likelihood of cooperation and collaboration not only on the ASDMP Project but also on the future needs/projects. Today the objectives have been translated into concrete work. The Research Roadmap is an outstanding result, because this Disaster Roadmap management creates hope for all ten ASEAN Member States to use this as a guiding process for achieving the goal of becoming a global leader on Disaster Management by 2025.

On behalf of the ASEAN Committee on Disaster Management I would like to extend my gratitude and sincere thanks to the Republic of Korea Government, APCC, ASEAN Secretariat, AHA Center, and the respective organisations, and especially all of the experts for their close and fruitful contributions to the Research Roadmap.

https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/ASEAN-Region_Disaster-Management_0228_optimize.pdf

Mr. Prasong VONGKHAMCHANH
Director General of Social Welfare Department
Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare of Lao PDR
Chair of the ASEAN Committee on Disaster Management

Tony Blair has accepted that Britain and Ireland will have to work around rather than reverse Brexit in order to prevent a hard border on the island and preserve the Good Friday agreement.

While stressing he was still “passionately opposed” to Brexit and regarded the UK leaving the EU as a “profound mistake”, the former prime minister said that the two countries would have to “overcome the challenge” posed by the British departure from Europe.

Speaking at an event in Belfast on Tuesday to mark 20 years since the signing of the Good Friday agreement peace accord, Blair said it was essential to avoid the disaster of a hard border reappearing on the island post-Brexit.

On the challenges Brexit will pose for Ireland, Blair said: “We are just going to have to work at it [Brexit] and overcome it. I wish it wasn’t happening but it is and we are just going to do our best to circumvent it.”

He also urged the current generation of Northern Ireland’s political leaders “not to cast aside” the gains of the Good Friday agreement peace deal.

Commenting on the present deadlock between unionism and nationalism in Northern Ireland, Blair said: “Where we are may not be where we want to be but it’s a much better place from where we were.

“This is the most important thing I would say right now to those people today who are in positions of responsibility: try to work your way through the present impasse, give it your all, start working at it, don’t ever give up because what you are doing is vital, it is important.”

There was discord even within the Irish nationalist representatives at the conference to commemorate 20 years of the agreement. Adams confirmed that Sinn Féin wanted a “border poll” on a united Ireland.

Seamus Mallon, the former Social Democratic and Labour party deputy leader and former deputy first minister, said calls for a referendum on Irish unity posed dangers.

Mallon said it would be a “bloody disaster” if any referendum on a united Ireland could be won by a simple majority of 50% plus 1.

In such a scenario, Mallon warned, Ireland would inherit a fearful, recalcitrant large unionist minority on the island.

Disaster-recovery expert Ken Topping and other members of the Cambria FireSafe Focus Group want all North Coast residents to be completely informed and ready for any catastrophe.

In three previous informational forums this year, the Focus Group has addressed a host of do-and-don’t readiness issues.

The group is hosting a fourth session from 3 to 5 p.m. Tuesday, April 24, at the Veterans Memorial Building, 1000 Main St.

Topping (a former general manager of the Cambria Community Services District) will discuss more about preventing disaster losses and recovering after the catastrophe.

“Prevention and recovery are two sides of the same coin,” Topping said. “The more you prepare in an effort to prevent losses, the less difficult it will be to recover and get back on track after the disaster.”

He’ll also ask attendees for their questions about preparing themselves, their homes and their community for fire, flood, earthquake, landslides and other disasters, as well as about governmental rules that may need tweaking.

“We need to know where the gaps and overlaps are that make prevention a less effective crazy quilt,” Topping said in an April 9 phone interview. “I think there are a lot of holes, kind of like Swiss cheese.”

Cambrians have banded together in the past to advocate for change, including their successful campaign to temporarily remove the county permit fee for taking down trees deemed hazardous by Cal Fire. No healthy trees could be removed under this streamlined process.

At the forum, Topping and Focus Group members will answer any questions they can, and do research later to find answers to other queries, publicizing the responses later.

Those who have questions now can email them to group leader Shirley Bianchi at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Topping also will discuss the plan to form a VOAD group (Voluntary Organizations Active in Disasters) to help the community be more disaster-prepared. A sign-up sheet will be provided for people and organization that wish to participate in the VOAD process.

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